Butt scored with the Mosgiel-owned pacer Bushido, who turned around a run of bad luck in justifying his red-hot favouritism in race 3. The Syd and Shona Brown-owned 5yr-old proved too good for his rivals despite sitting parked throughout the race.
In Bushido’s two previous races, he had jumped a mark on the track at Rangiora and then pulled a flat tyre at Ashburton.
"He definitely deserved it. He really could have won his last two starts if it wasn’t for the worst luck you’ve ever seen," successful junior driver Kimberly Butt said.
Tim Butt is unlikely to win another race in a solo training capacity in the near future as his new training partnership with Jonny Cox is about to kick off.
The new venture is due to be officially registered in the coming days and Cox is in the process of taking over the running of the Premier Stables property at West Melton.
Butt will head the Sydney arm of what will be a transtasman operation.
The Browns’ open-class star, Field Marshal, has recently enjoyed two weeks in the spelling paddock in Victoria.In consultation with Butt, the owners decided not to tackle the Interdominion series in Perth.
Instead, the horse’s main aim will be the Hunter Cup in February, Syd Brown said.
The last heats of the Interdomions will be run at Gloucester Park tonight.
• The cantankerous nature of trotter Xmas Joyella is something junior driver Mikayla Lewis is happy to put up with.
The pair combined to win race 6 last night, their third consecutive victory.
Lewis, who works with Xmas Joyella at trainer Brent White’s Temuka stable, is happy to tolerate the mare’s quirks off the track if she keeps trotting so well.
"She is testing. She doesn’t mind kicking or biting," Lewis said.
King Cassidy, the winner of last night’s lower-class trot, is also a squaregaiter who has a few tricks.
Driver Dexter Dunn nursed the Chris Gerken-trained 5yr-old all the way up the Forbury Park straight and made sure he did not show any of the wayward tendencies he has in the past.
"He is trotting a lot better now than he was earlier on," Gerken said.
"He has still got a lot to figure out but he hasn’t got a bad motor."
Last night’s feature pace, race 7, was won by Bevan’s Cullen.
The Darryn Simpson-trained gelding dived along the markers to score in the hands of driver Matthew Williamson.
Williamson also triumphed in the following race when the Tom Twidle-trained Woodlea Ragnar scored a bold front-running win on debut.
• Southland driver Shane Walkinshaw was released from hospital earlier this week and is recovering from injuries sustained in a crash at Ascot Park.
Walkinshaw told The Informant he had no memory of being tipped from the sulky of Jennys Rose in a race at Invercargill on Friday until after he was taken to Invercargill Hospital.
The driver was was found to have sustained fractures to the back of his skull and in three areas of his face.
"I’ve also got bumps and bruises but I’m able to walk around," he said.
